


A Dark Cloud

by janto321 (FaceofMer)



Series: ACD Fics [18]
Category: Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms, Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle
Genre: Depression, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Ficlet, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-01
Updated: 2019-02-01
Packaged: 2019-10-20 06:42:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17617454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FaceofMer/pseuds/janto321
Summary: Sometimes the darkness comes. Watson is there to provide some light.





	A Dark Cloud

**Author's Note:**

  * For [smirkdoctor](https://archiveofourown.org/users/smirkdoctor/gifts).



Stepping into the flat after a long day at my practice, I found the curtains drawn, the lights dimmed and Holmes curled up in his chair moodily watching the fire. The tea by his elbow had long since grown cold.

I recognized his mood at once, of course. In a relationship as long as ours there had been many such times when the clouds gathered and the world shrunk in.

I fetched his favorite blanket and lay it over him, then went to see about some fresh tea. By the time I returned with a steaming cup he’d stirred and tucked the blanket around himself. He wordlessly accepted the tea as I bustled around the flat, doing a bit of tidying and straightening up, not quite wanting to leave him alone, but also not wanting to make myself a nuisance.

He smiled, softly, sadly. “Sit, Watson, please. Mrs. Hudson will fuss at you if you leave her nothing to do.”

I obliged and sat in my usual chair. After a few moments he got up and crossed over to me, sitting in my lap and resting his head on my shoulder. I wrapped my arms around him and kissed his temple.

“I don’t know why I’m like this,” Holmes murmured. “I have all the things a man could want. Friends, companionship, money enough, work that I excel at…”

I held him a little closer and traced my finger along one delicate wrist. “Some of the brightest I’ve encountered have held a darkness within them. Almost seems some perverse law of the universe.”

“Perhaps it is the universe trying to instill some humility,” he murmured, a slightly warmer smile on his face. “Though in my case it certainly hasn’t taken.”

“No, clearly not.” I kissed his lips and felt him sigh and settle.

I adjusted the blanket over us both and held him, wishing I could lift the burden of his black moods from his shoulders. But I was here, his conductor of light as he’d once called me, and always I would see him safely home.


End file.
